Tornadoes and flooding kill 9 in South, Midwest

Severe storms including tornadoes swept through several small towns in East Texas, killing at least four people and injuring dozens more, and leaving a trail of overturned vehicles, mangled trees and damaged homes, authorities said Sunday.

Deadly Day of Tornadoes and Flooding (The Weather Channel)

The Associated Press

April 30, 2017 - 10:37 am

Kyle Allen walks his parents' property in Canton, Texas on Sunday, April 30, 2017, looking for personal items. Severe storms including tornadoes swept through several small towns in East Texas, killing several people, and leaving a trail of overturned vehicles, mangled trees and damaged homes, authorities said Sunday. (Sarah A. Miller/Tyler Morning Telegraph via AP)

A home missing it's roof and trees that have been stripped bare are seen along State Highway 80 in Fruitvale, Texas, after a tornado swept through late Saturday, April 29, 2017. Fruitvale is north of Canton. Fatalities have been reported and dozens of people were taken to hospitals after a tornado hit the small city of Canton in East Texas, authorities said. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News via AP)

Ernestine Cook of Canton inspects the damage done to the I-20 Dodge dealership after a tornado hit Canton, Texas, Saturday, April 29, 2017. Cars and trucks were piled high and the service area was destroyed. Authorities say fatalities have been reported and dozens of people were taken to hospitals after a tornado hit the small city in East Texas. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News via AP)

Cars and trucks are damaged as the walls blew out of the I-20 Dodge dealership after a tornado hit near Canton, Texas, Saturday, April 29, 2017. The National Weather Service says at least one tornado hit Canton, while tornadoes also were reported in surrounding areas. Powerful storms swept through Canton early Saturday evening, leaving behind a trail of overturned vehicles, mangled trees and damaged homes. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News via AP)

A storm spotter inspects the damage done to the I-20 Dodge dealership after a tornado hit Canton, Texas, Saturday, April 29, 2017. Cars and trucks were piled high and the service area was destroyed. The National Weather Service says at least one tornado hit Canton, while tornadoes also were reported in surrounding areas.
(Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News via AP)

Ambulances and emergency vehicles line up at Canton High School after a tornado ripped through the city of Canton, in Texas, on Saturday, April 29, 2017. Authorities say fatalities have been reported and dozens of people were taken to hospitals after a tornado hit the small city in East Texas. (Ashley Landis/The Dallas Morning News via AP)

Stephanie Quezada looks at the damage to the second floor of her father's church, Primera Iglesia Bautista, in Canton, Texas, Sunday, April 30, 2017. Severe storms including tornadoes swept through several small towns in East Texas, killing several and leaving a trail of overturned vehicles, mangled trees and damaged homes, authorities said Sunday. (Sarah A. Miller/Tyler Morning Telegraph via AP)

Debris lies on the ground Sunday, April 30, 2017, in Canton, Texas. Severe storms including tornadoes swept through several small towns in East Texas, killing several and leaving a trail of overturned vehicles, mangled trees and damaged homes, authorities said Sunday. (Sarah A. Miller/Tyler Morning Telegraph via AP)

Debris lies on the ground in Canton, Texas on Sunday, April 30, 2017. Severe storms including tornadoes swept through several small towns in East Texas, killing several people, and leaving a trail of overturned vehicles, mangled trees and damaged homes, authorities said Sunday. (Sarah A. Miller/Tyler Morning Telegraph via AP)

Debris lies on the ground Sunday April 30, 2017, in Canton, Texas. Severe storms including tornadoes swept through several small towns in East Texas, killing several and leaving a trail of overturned vehicles, mangled trees and damaged homes, authorities said Sunday. (Sarah A. Miller/Tyler Morning Telegraph via AP)

Ambulances and emergency vehicles line up at Canton High School after a tornado ripped through the city of Canton, in Texas, on Saturday, April 29, 2017. Authorities say fatalities have been reported and dozens of people were taken to hospitals after a tornado hit a small city in East Texas. (Ashley Landis/The Dallas Morning News via AP)

Ernestine Cook of Canton, Texas, points out the damage to spotter Michael Search of Henderson, Texas, as they inspect the damage done to the I-20 Dodge dealership after a tornado hit Canton, Texas, Saturday, April 29, 2017. Cars and trucks were piled high and the service area was destroyed. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News via AP)

CANTON, Texas — At least nine people have been killed by tornadoes or flooding in the South and Midwest by a storm that also dumped a rare late-season blizzard in western Kansas on Sunday.

Tornadoes hit several small towns in East Texas, killing four people. Three people were killed by flooding and winds in Arkansas, with officials saying two more people are missing. Rushing water swept away a car, drowning a woman in Missouri; and a death was reported in Sunday morning storms that raked Mississippi.

Flooding closed part of Interstate 44 near Hazelgreen, Missouri, and officials expected it would be at least a day before the highway reopened. Interstate 70 in western Kansas was closed because crews were waiting for snow falling at 3 to 4 inches (8 to 10 cm) an hour being blown by 35 mph (56 km/hr) winds to subside.

Rescuers in northwest Arkansas continued Sunday to look for an 18-month-old girl and a 4-year-old boy who were in a vehicle swept off a bridge by floodwaters in Hindsville, the Madison County Sheriff’s Office said.

In northwest Arkansas, a 10-year-old girl drowned in Springdale and the body of a woman who disappeared riding an inner tube Saturday was found in a creek in Eureka Springs. Also, a 65-year-old woman in DeWitt in the eastern part of the state was struck and killed in her home by a falling tree, officials said.

In Texas, search teams were going door to door Sunday after the tornadoes the day before flattened homes, uprooted trees and flipped several pickup trucks at a Dodge dealership in Canton.

The storms cut a path of destruction 35 miles (56 kilometers) long and 15 miles (24 kilometers) wide in Van Zandt County, Everett said. The largely rural area is about 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of Dallas.

The National Weather Service found evidence of four tornadoes with one twister possibly on the ground for 50 miles (80 km).

The first reports of tornadoes came about 4:45 p.m. Saturday, but emergency crews were hampered by continuing severe weather, said Judge Don Kirkpatrick, the chief executive for Van Zandt County.

“We’d be out there working and get a report of another tornado on the ground,” he said.

The storms rolled through Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama on Sunday with strong winds causing isolated pockets of damage. In Durant in central Mississippi on person died in the storms. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency didn’t give details.

Alexa Haik went to bed Saturday night expecting just rain, but heard the sirens Sunday morning and turned on the television to see the tornado warning. She rounded up her pets and hid in a hallway with her family, then was stunned to emerge to trees down all in her neighborhood in Clinton, Mississippi, about 20 miles (32 km) west of Jackson.

A trip up the road showed how isolated the worst of the storms were. “I really thought when we got out of our neighborhood, there would be damage everywhere. But our little subdivision was the only one hit,” Haik said.

Near Clever in southwestern Missouri, a man tried to save his 72-year-old wife from floodwaters that swept away their vehicle Saturday, but her body was found when the water receded, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said.

Las Vegas police are looking for two men involved in the shooting death of a man outside a 7-Eleven story at Bonanza Road and Maryland Parkway on Nov. 12, 2018. (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department)

VA Southern Nevada Healthcare System hosts Veterans Day Car Show and BBQ

The 4th Annual Veterans Day Car Show and BBQ is held in celebration of Veterans Day at the VA Southern Nevada Healthcare System Medical Center in North Las Vegas, Saturday, Nov. 10, 2018. (Caroline Brehman/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

The Metropolitan Police Department and Sunrise Children's Hospital held a press conference to get the message out on preventable infant deaths attributed to "co-sleeping" and other unsafe sleeping habits. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

No serious injuries after car hits tree in south Las Vegas

One person reported minor injuries but wasn’t hospitalized after a Wednesday morning crash in the south valley.

Las Vegas police determined that a suspicious package found Monday morning at a central valley post office was not a threat.

Suspicious package found at central Las Vegas post office

Police evacuated the area around the Garside Station post office early Monday morning near Oakey and Decatur boulevards.

With husband's passing, family in limbo for workers' comp claim

Meredith Tracy's husand, Russell Tracy, died more than a year ago on his first day working for a new company when he fell 22 feet into a manhole that was not properly safeguarded. His employer was fined $82,000 in penalties for unsafe practices, but the company has denied her workers' compensation claim, leaving her with no compensation since the death. Rachel Aston Las Vegas Review-Journal @rookie__rae

With husband's passing, family in limbo for workers' comp claim

Meredith Tracy's husand, Russell Tracy, died more than a year ago on his first day working for a new company when he fell 22 feet into a manhole that was not properly safeguarded. His employer was fined $82,000 in penalties for unsafe practices, but the company has denied her workers' compensation claim, leaving her with no compensation since the death. Rachel Aston Las Vegas Review-Journal @rookie__rae

Las Vegas family shares flu warning

Carlo and Brenda Occhipinti lost their son, Carlo Jr., or “Junior,” to the flu last year.

Author Randall Cannon shares an anecdote about Stadust Raceway

Author Randall Cannon shares an anecdote about Dan Blocker, who played Hoss Cartwright on the TV show "Bonanza," and the actor's passion for auto racing at Stardust International Raceway in Las Vegas during the 1960s. (Ron Kantowski/Las Vegas Review-Journal.)

Eastbound lanes of the 215 Beltway are shut down by the Nevada Highway Patrol after a female juvenile jumped from the 215 overpass at Stephanie and was struck by a FedEx tractor trailer. Michael Quine/Las Vegas Review-Journal @Vegas88s

Kristallnacht story

An interview with 94-year-old Holocaust survivor Alexander Kuechel who survived seven concentration camps and didn’t leave Germany until after World War II was over. (Mia Sims/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

1 dead in central Las Vegas crash

An early Wednesday morning crash left at least one person dead and another injured. The crash was reported just around 3 a.m. at the intersection of Flamingo Road and Swenson Street. At least two vehicles were involved in the crash, one of which caught fire. Debris was scattered across the intersection as police combed the area as they investigated the scene. Flamingo is blocked in both directions between Swenson and Cambridge Street. Northbound Swenson is blocked at the intersection.

Richard Knoeppel named the 2018 Nevada Teacher of the Year

Richard Knoeppel, an architecture design instructor at the Advanced technologies Academy, named the 2018 Nevada Teacher of the Year on Monday, Oct. 29, 2018. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @bizutesfaye

Mojave Poppy Bees

(Zach Portman/University of Minnesota Department of Entomology) Male Mojave poppy bees exhibit territorial fighting behavior. The Center for Biological Diversity wants the bee, found only in Clark County, to be added to the endangered species list.

Clark County Schools announce random searches

Clark County School District middle and high school students will be subject to random searches for weapons under a new initiative to combat the wave of guns found on campus. (Amelia Pak-Harvey/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Las Vegas house prices are rising But so is the amount of available homes on the market Still, properties priced below $300,000 are selling fast And September was the first time since June 2007 that the median house price reached the $300,000 mark Las Vegas home prices have been rising at one of the fastest rates in the country over the past year Recent data show the market is now less affordable than the national average

National Night Out

About 100 Summerlin residents gathered at Park Centre Dr. in Summerlin on Tuesday for National Night Out. Lt. Joshua Bitsko with Las Vegas Metro, played with 3-year-old David who was dressed as a police officer. Face painting, fire truck tours and more kept kids busy as parents roamed behind them. (Mia Sims/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Rural homeless issue comes to a head in Pahrump

On Sept. 12, Pahrump sheriff deputies told residents of a homeless encampment on private property that they had 15 minutes to vacate and grab their belongings. That decision might face some legal consequences. (Rachel Aston/Las Vegas Review-Journal)